I invested a great deal of emotional and mental capital in last year's presidential election, and was intensely dismayed at the outcome. How could a majority of voters be so stupid? Why can't or won't they see what I see? I was dumbstruck and depressed. How many years will it take to undo the evils that will be done over the next four until the American people finally wake up and realize they are not voting for their own best interest?
Many bad things have been done in the intervening 10 months.
Bankruptcy legislation written by the credit card industry that Republicans refused to make people whose lives are destroyed by natural disasters exempt from. When most bankruptcies are the result of personal catastrophies rather than personal greed or sloth? That when doctors and lawyers are far more likely to forfeit on student loans than the rest of us?
Energy legislation that gave tax breaks to companies that are currently earning profits greater than any profits in the history of the world?
Transportation legislation that builds bridges to nowhere to the tune of $500M dollars among acres and acres of other pork?
Threat of a first veto against a defense spending bill that said US Armed forces SHOULDN'T torture people?
Attempts at privatization of the most successful social program in the history of the country, namely Social Security.
Incompetent disaster assistance having appointed someone uniquely unqualified for the position.
Proposed requirements to kill wild mustangs.
And on and on and on.....
But now, with luck, their criminal incompetence will be laid fully bare with indictments that hit the current administration deep in their heart, exposing the criminal side of their incompetence. And the dismantling of a horribly and shamelessly corrupt Republican infrastructure, so sure of itself that brazen disregard for the law, including possibly murder, is standard practice. The illusion of conservatism and compassion completely revealed as the sham it was. The notion that Republicans are a party of responsibility completely unbelievable. A once unbeatable juggernaut incapable of getting out of its own way.
Only the fruition of all these things will have made the horrible mistake of one year ago worthwhile.
8 comments:
Not really. Not worth it. Our soldiers are still struggling in Iraq with no plan, leadership or exit strategy. Our country has only donated $10MM to a natural disaster that just killed 73,000 people in Pakistan & India. The "vote of confidence" in Bush by our country last year has certainly increased already-high anti-American sentiment by the majority of the rest of the world.
And on and on and on. I hope the administration continues to unravel. I hope they all are indicated and that history remembers him as the most awful thing that ever happened to our country, and all that. But my personal satisfaction from the current proceedings don't come close to making it "worth it."
That said, the last month has been the most fun it has been to follow political news since I can remember...
Yeah, I'm definitely torn on this.
The best possible part of this, beyond the personal vindictiveness I feel, is the collapse of their machine, which will have far, far reaching effects beyond just the horrible polkicies of this one bastard.
Still, unless he is somehow magically impeached and thrown from office, we'll have to suffer through 3 more weakened years of his rule. He may accomplish nothing, but it's not going to help at all to keep him in office.
I would add this: If being "liberal" simply means holding conservatives accountable for things they say and do, and being more dogged in reporting, then I think the media has been decidedly more "liberal" in the past year or so.
I'm not sure if it is mainly because it's easier to pile on when things aren't going well for the administration, or if journalists just started getting pissed off at the insulting stream of bullshit they were supposed to regurgitate on a daily basis. But they certainly seem to have "woken up."
Mixdorf, I am on board with with you in reguards to this administration. I think that they are really screwing things up. I am glad that I didn't vote for him.
At first, I thought you said "rearguards" and got quite shaken up for a moment.
It wouldn't have been unbelievable.
Unfortunately, legislated pork is used on both sides of the political spectrum. That's one of the ways the politicians get power & re-elected. Bridges are only the tip of the pork manure pile...
I do take issue with Social Security. It's going broke, they won't fix it right, and I fully expect not to get a damn thing from them when (if) I retire. How in the Hell can that be a "successful social program"?
Social security can be fixed by any number of simple means. The easiest is indexing it to inflation. Another is reducing the benefits for those with a certain level of other retirement income - you pick the cap.
What won;t fix SSI is privatizing it. Not only will that ass to our already sickening national debt, but it will potentially screw those people who need it the most.
As far as successful social programs go. Prior to the introduction of SSI, more than half of all senior citizens died in poverty. Now some much smaller number do. That's a good thing.
Medicare is in far worse shape, and no one seems willing to talk about that.
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